Being majority is a responsibility

Yazd is one of the provinces in Iran with the biggest influence and practices of Zoroastrianism. From Chak Chak – where legendary princess Nikbanou were shielded by cliff walls from being captured by Arab troops – to Karanagh – where intelligent example of water-deprived community settlement was built by Zoroastrians and then abandoned – to this Zoroastrian Fire Temple in the City of Yazd.

I met Mehran Sadat (on the left), an Afghani refugee in Yazd, who – thanks to my curiosity – finally visit this temple for the first time and met Rostam (on the right) the temple’s caretaker. It was supposed to be my trip, but Mehran – a graduate pharmacist and self-taught poet – turned out to be more inquisitive. He shyly said that – after a year in Yazd – this is his first time to the temple.

Later in the evening, he took me to his Afghani friends where we had ifthar. Over tea, we shared the joy and sorrow of being a MINORITY. Being Afghani in Iran – no matter educated – is always a minority. But we agreed that our Zoroastrian friends would experience more severely as they are today being a minority in the land where they used to be MAJORITY.

Mehran told me that, as his understanding to what Prophet Mohammad said, being a majority is not a blessing, it’s a RESPONSIBILITY to take care of the minorities.

SIMILAR NEWS

When we embrace this kind of ‘local’, it doesn’t matter what accent people speak, as long as they communicate seamlessly. It doesn’t matter who eats what for lunch, as long as they can share their dining table. It doesn’t matter who enters or leaves, as long as the community maintains, shapes and keeps redefining their locals.

Somehow, I didn’t care about the menu mistakes, the #meh coffee and all the tiring talks about religions and politics in this trip, but that LOL with a stranger perfectly ended my trip to Kei Islands.

People who are afraid of death, are afraid of life

Fatima, a dying woman in the badly-reviewed movie, Hector and the Search for Happiness, said this to Hector, a mid-age psychiatrist who, contrary to his profession, felt the need for help to his existence. This quote is not part of the twenty one quotes in the movie, but is one of the reasons that drove me to travel and, most importantly, live a life.